At-large Metro Councilmember John Cooper is set to announce his campaign for mayor on Tuesday.
A source close to Mayor David Briley confirmed that Cooper called Briley Monday afternoon to tell him that he would be entering the race. Cooper declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday evening. Two sources tell the Scene that the announcement is set to appear in The Tennessean on Tuesday.
In February, Cooper said he would not run for mayor and likely would not run for re-election to his council seat, in part because he said he could weigh in on Metro issues more effectively without a political title. But in the months since, he has apparently reconsidered his decision.
It may be an uphill battle for Cooper, as Briley holds the incumbency advantage and has been fundraising for his re-election bid since last year. Polling conducted earlier this year seems to confirm Cooper’s task — an internal Briley poll showed Cooper at 4 percent in January, and in a head-to-head matchup, Briley beat Cooper by more than 30 percentage points.
But Cooper could quickly ramp up a campaign by infusing some of his own money, as he did in 2015 when he was a late entrant in the crowded at-large race — he ended with more votes than any other candidate. He could also tap into a donor network of those unhappy with Briley but so far unenthused by any of his challengers. After the latest round of campaign finance disclosures last week, every candidate lagged far behind the 2015 field's totals.
Briley and Cooper have some recent history together, with then-Vice Mayor Briley appointing Cooper as chair of the Metro Council’s budget and finance committee in 2015. He later replaced Cooper with Tanaka Vercher, the committee’s current chair.
Cooper joins state Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) and Carol Swain, a conservative former Vanderbilt University professor, in addition to a handful of other candidates, in the race to unseat Briley. Briley assumed the position after Mayor Megan Barry’s resignation last year and held onto the seat in a May special election.
Cooper's brother Jim represents Nashville in Congress. His father Prentice was governor of Tennessee.
